John Gorka

I have been seeing John Gorka perform regularly since he was young and clean shaven, that is, beginning shortly after the release of his first album, "I Know."

I have seen Mr. Gorka perform so many times that I have lost count of the number of his performances which I have seen.

I know that I have attended his performances with various girlfriends, a number of friends, and, also, in Framingham, MA, with my favorite cousin, Amy, who was briefly visiting Massachusetts from Israel, several years ago.

From his first album, "I Know," onward, Mr. Gorka has always had an incredible gift as a composer of compelling/moving modern folk music.

In the twenty-first century, especially, I have found Mr. Gorka's performances to encompass both his incredible musical talent and his extraordinary humility.

Perhaps it might shock Mr. Gorka to be seen by this reviewer as an exceptional spiritual teacher, but that is, indeed, how I see him. Whereas most spiritual teachers teach primarily through direct spiritual guidance, Mr. Gorka teaches primarily indirectly, that is, by utilizing his musical performances to transform the perceptual capabilities of the members of his audience.

Mr. Gorka suggested just that the other night, on May 21, 2016, at his Needham, MA show at the Homegrown Coffeehouse, when he explained how his early experiences of live folk music performances, in Bethlehem, PA, instilled in him an appreciation for, and a wish to emulate, the capacity of a musician to transform the ambiance in a performance setting, in essence to cleanse or bless a space.

Mr. Gorka is a philosopher's musician as well as a poet's musician. He is as nimble with abstract ideas and the English language as anyone might ever hope for from a musician.

Mr. Gorka's May 21, 2016 performance at the Homegrown Coffeehouse, in Needham, MA, was especially poignant because it seemed as if he has finally become an elder on the folk circuit.

While Mr. Gorka's songs have deftly and definitely explored aging well prior to his having few hairs on his head that are not grey, Mr. Gorka's age shows in his performances now in a manner which gives him both even more gravitas (his depth has always earned him status as an "old soul") and reminds us of our own mortality, for we have aged as he has.

For one, Mr. Gorka used to share only a smattering of words at his performances. Now, Mr. Gorka has done what we all do as we age, which is reminisce. This is likely primarily because our pasts have become longer than our futures.

Mr. Gorka's performance at the Homegrown Coffeehouse, too, reminded of us of our mortality by his wonderful musical celebration of Bob Dylan's upcoming seventy-fifth birthday and by his incredibly moving rendition of a Prince song "When Doves Cry," to begin the show.

Mr. Gorka's sense of humor is as wonderful as ever, both in his song lyrics and in his comments between songs.

Mr. Gorka wrote about the vacuousness of Donald Trump, in "Where the Bottles Break," way before this nation ever imagined the risk of handing itself over to "The Donald." Mr. Gorka's musical capacity to address tragically catastrophic realities and potential tragedies without seeming like he is preaching at us is a central part of his gift.

Sometimes, I wonder how anybody on Earth could successfully navigate/survive life's seemingly relentless onslaught of slings and arrows without Mr. Gorka's tender guiding hand. Mr. Gorka, himself, at this Homegrown Coffeehouse performance, gratefully acknowledged how the helping hands of other musicians he had met early on had enabled his musical emergence. Luckily for us, Mr. Gorka has, for decades, now, provided us with his outstretched hand. I have finally decided to embrace that hand tightly.

Respectfully submitted,
David J. Alpert
Newton, MA USA

This is my first John Gorka concert. I had written to him requesting that he do the song Scraping Dixie, and he did an excellent job of it in the first set. The audience was quite mixed, given that some subscribers by season tickets to concerts at the Jaeb, and have little idea who the singers are. Nevertheless, he quickly won over this mixed crowd. The song he is best known for, I Saw a woman with your Hair, spark recognition among the audience.

Like all singer songwriters he spends a great deal of time talking about the circumstances of many of his songs. I for one, and I think many others in attendance, would wish that singers would talk less and sing more. Given that he's been performing for nearly 30 years, and released many recordings, the number of songs that fans would've liked to have heard were many. In the second half he brought out a small guitar to play blues songs, which he is also excellent at, and is quite a departure from his folk roots.

I can not recommend this performer more highly. He is a superb crafter of alternately literate and witty often insightful and invariably entertaining guitar backed tunes which he delivers in a butter and honey baritone which barely hints at his New Jersey roots. He has generated a double handful of albums which can and should be purchased at the venue. I have seen hime several times at Uncle Calvin's, a Dallas church associated basement coffeehouse which provides superb sound to an audience solely there to listen to music. There are coffee and pastries but no alcohol. Don't miss the show.